


Different Paths

by The Fanciful Fangirl (SdogoodII)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bespin, Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary, Family Drama, Father-Son Relationship, Feels, Movie: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Skywalker Family Drama, Skywalker Family Feels, esb40
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:15:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22978231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SdogoodII/pseuds/The%20Fanciful%20Fangirl
Summary: A new series of Star Wars one-shots, most of them will be centered on Luke and Vader's father-son relationship.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 64





	1. No One

**Author's Note:**

> This is intended to be a place to house the Star Wars AU one-shots that pop into my head. I have no upload schedule or plan for these, (other than the ideas that keep swirling in my head at all times, my muse is very active of late) but I figured a dedicated collection might encourage me to upload more often. To those of you that read and are waiting for updates on Night Terrors, first off thank you, and second there’s an update coming soonish, I just need my overactive muse to cooperate for one kriffing second. Hence this collection. I haven’t had this much motivation or solid ideas to write Star Wars fanfiction since I was a teenager, so I’m trying to capitalize on that cause it brings me joy. 
> 
> *coughs awkwardly* 
> 
> Anyway, this first fic (and very possibly a series of fics, again chill out muse, don’t you know I have homework?) centers around Bespin going down a bit differently. And by differently, I mean Vader actually slows down for one Force-darned minute.

“The Force is with you, young Skywalker. But you are not a Jedi yet.”

Luke couldn’t decide if Darth Vader is trying to taunt or scare him, perhaps both. 

He supposed that he should expect nothing less from the man who had murdered his father and tortured his friends. Regardless, Luke decided that either way, he and Vader would cross blades that day, whether he was ready or not. He pushed thoughts of Yoda and Ben’s warnings from his mind and ascended the stairs, coming to stand right before Vader. But the Dark Lord made no move to light his saber, so Luke lit his, brandishing it as carefully as he could. His muscle memory moved him into a familiar training stance and for a second he hoped that his work on Dagobah would be enough. 

Vader lit his own blade and slowly lowered it to cross Luke’s. 

It was Luke who struck first, arching the saber up and down towards Vader’s immovable death mask. Unsurprisingly, Vader countered, brushing off Luke’s attack with ease. Unwilling to give up, Luke went at Vader again, with the same overhead strike, but this time the Dark Lord pressed back, sending Luke down to the floor. The young Jedi trainee rose immediately, falling back into his stance. 

Luke was already feeling fatigued. Sweat started to form on his face and while he certainly hadn’t extended much energy yet, neither, did it seem, had Vader. Still, Luke told himself that he wasn’t fighting this battle for himself and he pressed forward. Vader actually shrunk back from the advance and allowed Luke to make the first move yet again. They clashed sabers, over and over again. Luke tried several angles of attack but nothing he did even came close to touching Vader. 

In fact, Luke soon found himself pushed back to the top of the stairs, tired but still full of fire. His mind drifted briefly to thoughts of his father, and not for the first time, Luke wondered if his father would have been proud of him. 

“You have learned much, young one.” Vader's voice almost sounded… complementary but Luke knew he was only imagining that. 

“You’ll find I’m full of surprises.” Luke quipped back, determined not to let his father’s murderer get the upper hand. He thrust his lightsaber forward, aiming for the blinking control panel on Vader’s chest. The Dark Lord was quicker however. With a quick flick of his wrist, Luke’s lightsaber was sent out of his hand. Luke found himself practically kneeling at Vader’s feet, staring up at the crimson blade hovering in the air between them. 

But Vader made no move to strike. Instead, he deactivated his lightsaber altogether. Luke quickly looked around for his saber but before he could even find it in the red-tinted darkness, it came shooting up and into Vader’s hand. He turned it over in his hands, like he was examining it. Luke felt a hot fire rise up within him but before he could yell at Vader for daring to touch his father’s lightsaber, the Dark Lord spoke. 

“On Cymoon, you said that I killed your father.” Vader said plainly. Luke blinked up at the Dark Lord, unsure of this sudden turn of events. Vader spoke again.

“I suppose, Obi-Wan told you that.” Vader said, almost… sadly. Luke wondered briefly if he had taken one to many hits to the head in recent years.

“He did.” Luke said finally. “He said you betrayed him and murdered him.” The ire in Luke’s voice was sharp but Vader didn’t seem fazed. What was the anger of one pseudo-Jedi youngling against a Sith Lord’s? 

“Obi-Wan did always have a complicated relationship with the truth, especially when it suited his needs.” Vader commented, continuing to turn the saber over in his hands. 

Despite the sudden lack of hostility, Luke felt like he couldn’t move, couldn’t get away, no matter how much he may have wanted to run. His heart started beating hard in his chest but he remained crouched right before Vader. 

“Complicated how?” Luke asked after a long silence. He didn’t really want to have a conversation with Vader about his slain mentor but the silence was starting to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. 

“How did Obi-Wan get your father’s lightsaber?” Vader asked at last. Luke blinked in confusion for a moment.

“What?”

“If I supposedly killed your father, how did Obi-Wan get his lightsaber?” Vader said. The tensionin Luke continued to rise. 

“I don’t know.” Luke said plainly. He felt like the galaxy was spinning off its axis. This was not how he’d anticipated this duel going. 

“Presumably, if I had killed your father, he would have had his lightsaber with him at the time. Perhaps we would have dueled to the death. If that was the case, how then did Kenobi acquire this lightsaber in order to give it to you?” Vader gestured with the unlit blade as he spoke. Luke remained in his place on the floor, unable to move.

“Or did Kenobi leave out those details as well? He seems to have given you very little details on how your father died. Curious, since he intended to use you as a weapon to take out your father’s supposed murderer.” 

Luke’s eyes were wide and his mind spun. Ben had… The young rebel tried desperately to remember all that his mentor had told him about his father but the details were scant and Luke suddenly felt like Ben Kenobi had been a stranger to him. 

“So you didn’t kill my father?” Luke said after several silent minutes. 

“No, young one, I did not.” Vader said in his deep baritone. 

“Who did?” Luke asked. He felt the Force shift sharply. 

“No one killed your father, Luke.” The Force swelled up now and Luke felt faint as Vader took a step forward.

“I am your father.” 

Luke fell back, just barely catching himself from falling down the stairs. Vader came no further as he felt his son’s mind spin. 

“That’s impossible.” Luke said at last, his breathing shaky. He turned his head to look his F- Vader in the eyes. From his place on the floor, Luke suddenly felt very small. 

“It would not have suited Kenobi’s ends to tell you the truth.” Another moment of silence.

“But Anakin Skywalker was my father.” The boy whimpered, he was getting emotional now. Vader knelt down slowly so that he was no longer towering over Luke like a living gargoyle and placed his old lightsaber on the floor between them. 

“That name no longer has any meaning for me. But when  _ I  _ made  this lightsaber, it was what I was called.” 

Luke seemed to think that over for a moment before looking up again.

“That’s why you’ve been chasing me… the bounty said alive only…” His words drifted off. “But on Cymoon, you almost killed me.” The statement might not have been a question but Vader answered it anyway.

“I did not know then. I believed you dead before you were even born.” Vader said with something close to reverence. Luke’s eyes scanned back and forth like his mind was puzzling pieces together but too many were missing. His shoulders sagged after a long moment and he pulled his knees up to his chest. The only person with all the pieces, was the same man who had been hunting him for three years… and also the man who he’d once dreamed would come back to take him to see the stars. Luke was suddenly very aware of how tired he was.

“I don’t know what to do.” Luke admitted shakily. 

Vader stood smoothly and extended a gloved hand out to Luke.

“Come with me.” 

Luke looked at the hand and thought about all that those three words really meant. He reached up in spite of himself and took his father’s hand.


	2. Why Didn't You Tell Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In honor of The Empire Strikes Back’s 40th anniversary I present a little AU of the Falcon being chased at the end of ESB.  
> May the Force Be With You!

“Ben, why didn’t you tell me?”

Leia could barely hear Luke’s defeated whisper over the sounds of herself and Lando feverishly changing every setting they know in the Falcon’s nonsensical console and Chewie yelling at the mishmashed inner workings. But she could hear him and for a moment she felt overwhelmed by her dear friend’s anguish. So overwhelmed that her hand drifted ever so slightly on the navigation controls. They could all feel the rocking jolt that could only have been a hit from an enemy laser. In the nanosecond that followed, Leia heard Artoo screech louder than she thought a droid could. Chewie and Threepio’s cries rung out in short succession. 

A sharp gasp and shout from Luke is what brought Leia back to her mission of not running the Falcon into the side of Vader’s Super Star Destroyer. For a moment all she saw was clear space in front of her before the whole ship lurched forward and then was pulled back. 

“Tractor beam.” Lando said gravely before running out and calling for Chewbacca. The door to the cockpit slid closed and the pair of friends suddenly found themselves in silence.

Leia looked back at Luke and was suddenly struck by how different he looked.

His hair was longer, clothes looked more filled out. His face even looked older, like her friend had aged in their short time apart. There were cuts on his face, and of course the missing arm.

“What happened?” It was all she could say as they felt the ship starting moving again, towards the flagship of the Imperial Navy. His eyes looked past her, like they were going to bore a hole in the Falcon’s steering column. Leia reached out and took his remaining hand where it was clutching the rough blanket he had wrapped around himself for dear life. It took precious seconds for Luke to answer and Leia thought it looked like he was listening to something besides her. Something in some unexplored past of her soul, seemed to say that Luke was hearing voices. 

“I can’t.” She had never heard his voice so strained, not when he talked about his guilt about destroying the Death Star or even when he had told her about the death of his aunt and uncle. 

“Why?” She says purely out of instinct. She and Luke had always been able to talk with one another. For the past three years, after their respective former lives had been destroyed by the Empire, they had been one anothers’ confidants. Luke felt like her brother some days. But now, he looked like someone she barely recognized. 

An anticlimactic thump sounded throughout the ship as they felt the Falcon settle down onto what appeared to be a hanger bay floor. Luke’s face fell as he looked down. Leia squeezed his hand as they listened to troopers trying to get the boarding ramp down. It took Luke another few moments to raise his head back up but he still couldn’t look Leia in the eyes. The sound of the ramp lowering felt like waiting for the Death Star to fire on Yavin IV all over again. Then, they heard Lando and Chewie yelling and the sounds of blasters, but strangely Leia thought she heard the distinct warble of stun blasts. 

“They’re taking us alive.” She said aloud. Luke shuddered and suddenly gripped her hand, his eyes finally finding hers even as they heard a faint snap hiss behind the closed cockpit door. Leia turned from Luke and watched the space where the lock lay start to glow red before it sparked. 

“I’m sorry.” 

The door rolled open slowly, revealing Vader’s improsing form. Leia took momentary pleasure in seeing chunks of his armor missing and streaked with lightsaber grazes.  _ If Luke can put up a fight, so can I. _

Leia stood then, rising regally before whipping out the concealed blaster Han kept wedged under the console. However, her attempts went as well as Han’s had back on the surface and the bolt arched back and right into the blaster, frying it in her hands. Vader, however, made no attempt to enter the cabin, and simply stared right at Luke’s turned back. His interest in her friend and the ominous breathing distracted Leia long enough that she didn’t notice a trooper pulling a blaster up behind Vader. The stun bolt felt like it had years ago and Leia Organa soon found herself in darkness. 

Only when she had collapsed, did Vader step into the space. The Dark Lord’s heavy hand on Luke’s shoulder was enough to break the shattered rebel from whatever stupor he’d fallen into. With a quick glance down at Leia’s prone form, Luke turned fully to face his fa- to face Vader. 

_ Do not deny what you know to be true, young one.  _

With more care than Luke would have expected, he watched Vader raise his arm slightly. Leia rose with his motion and was guided carefully out of the cabin to the waiting arms of two equally careful stormtroopers. 

Then, there was silence, save for Vader’s staggering breaths. 

It took an hour of patience for Vader to leave the Millenium Falcon with Luke walking dejectedly, yet willingly, behind him. The boy was beyond spent physically and mentally. It would be some time before Vader’s plans to bring his son to his side could begin in earnest, for him to earn the boy’s trust and loyalty. But Vader had been without his son for twenty-two years. He could wait a little longer. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I simply had to post something for ESB's 40th. This movie is not only my favorite Star Wars movie but my favorite movie period. As someone who likes hearing, seeing, and writing stories, I find this film so excellent. And who can get over that reveal?! It changed film history forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope that was worth the read! 
> 
> I love comments and reviews and suggestions of all kinds! So don't be shy. 
> 
> Again, there's no read upload schedule for this new collection but I hope to have something new up soon (whatever soon means in the realm of fanfiction writing).


End file.
